Veena Venugopalan

Veena Venugopalan, Pharm.D.

Clinical Associate Professor

Department: Pharmacotherapy & Translational Research
Business Phone: (352) 265-0111
Business Email: vvenugopalan@ufl.edu

About Veena Venugopalan

Veena Venugopalan received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy. Following graduation, she completed her pharmacy practice residency and infectious diseases specialty residency at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. As a board certified pharmacist with added qualifications in infectious diseases pharmacotherapy, Venugopalan has developed and maintained antimicrobial stewardship programs at large academic centers as well as community teaching hospitals. She joined the faculty at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy as an assistant professor in January 2016. She serves as the infectious diseases clinical specialist at UF Health Shands Hospital. Her research and patient care activities focus on health care associated infections, multidrug resistant gram-negative infections and antimicrobial stewardship. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, and she has been presented at national and international conferences.

Teaching Profile

Courses Taught
2016-2024
PHA5782C Patient Care 2: Introduction to Infectious Disease and Oncology
2016-2020
PHA5755 Micro, Immun, Virol
2017-2018
PHA5788C Patient Care 6
2018
PHA5759 Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience Readiness
2023-2024
PHA5166L Prof Skills Lab Vi

Research Profile

Research Interest: Antimicrobial stewardship practice, Multi-drug resistant gram-negative infections

Publications

2024
A Randomized Clinical Trial of Bayesian-Guided Beta-Lactam Infusion Strategy and Associated Bacterial Resistance and Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Severe Pneumonia.
Therapeutic drug monitoring. 46(1):95-101 [DOI] 10.1097/FTD.0000000000001144. [PMID] 38018847.
2024
Association of piperacillin and vancomycin exposure on acute kidney injury during combination therapy.
JAC-antimicrobial resistance. 6(1) [DOI] 10.1093/jacamr/dlad157. [PMID] 38259903.
2024
Cefepime pharmacokinetics in adult extracorporeal membrane oxygenation patients.
Pulmonary pharmacology & therapeutics. 84 [DOI] 10.1016/j.pupt.2023.102271. [PMID] 38008397.
2023
Exploring trends in social vulnerability for pharmacy students at a large public university
American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. 87(12) [DOI] 10.1016/j.ajpe.2023.100551. [PMID] 37336326.
2023
Making the case for precision dosing: visualizing the variability of cefepime exposures in critically ill adults.
The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy. 78(9):2170-2174 [DOI] 10.1093/jac/dkad211. [PMID] 37449472.
2023
Nephrotoxicity of Vancomycin in Combination With Beta-Lactam Agents: Ceftolozane-Tazobactam vs Piperacillin-Tazobactam.
Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. 76(3):e1444-e1455 [DOI] 10.1093/cid/ciac670. [PMID] 35982631.
2023
Oral Fluoroquinolones and Risk of Aortic Aneurysm or Dissection: A Nationwide Population‐Based Propensity Score Matched Cohort Study
Pharmacotherapy: The Journal of Human Pharmacology and Drug Therapy. 43(9):883-893 [DOI] 10.1002/phar.2841. [PMID] 37381584.
2023
Re-evaluation of cefepime or piperacillin/tazobactam to decrease use of carbapenems in ESBL-producing Enterobacterales urinary tract infections (REDUCE-UTI).
JAC-antimicrobial resistance. 5(2) [DOI] 10.1093/jacamr/dlad021. [PMID] 36936190.
2023
Use of therapeutic drug monitoring to characterize cefepime-related neurotoxicity.
Pharmacotherapy. 43(1):6-14 [DOI] 10.1002/phar.2744. [PMID] 36401796.
2023
Utilization of cefepime therapeutic drug monitoring in febrile neutropenia patients with hematologic malignancies.
Journal of oncology pharmacy practice : official publication of the International Society of Oncology Pharmacy Practitioners. [DOI] 10.1177/10781552231213883. [PMID] 37981806.
2022
Applying Cefepime Population Pharmacokinetics to Critically Ill Patients Receiving Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy.
Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy. 66(1) [DOI] 10.1128/AAC.01611-21. [PMID] 34662194.
2022
Cefepime Precision Dosing Tool: from Standard to Precise Dose Using Nonparametric Population Pharmacokinetics.
Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy. 66(2) [DOI] 10.1128/AAC.02046-21. [PMID] 34902271.
2022
Effectiveness and Safety of Beta-Lactam Antibiotics with and without Therapeutic Drug Monitoring in Patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa Pneumonia or Bloodstream Infection.
Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy. 66(10) [DOI] 10.1128/aac.00646-22. [PMID] 36073943.
2022
Implementation of a β-lactam therapeutic drug monitoring program: Experience from a large academic medical center.
American journal of health-system pharmacy : AJHP : official journal of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. 79(18):1586-1591 [DOI] 10.1093/ajhp/zxac171. [PMID] 35704702.
2022
Re-evaluation of cefepime or piperacillin-tazobactam to decrease use of carbapenems in extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales bloodstream infections (REDUCE-BSI).
Antimicrobial stewardship & healthcare epidemiology : ASHE. 2(1) [DOI] 10.1017/ash.2022.21. [PMID] 36310806.
2022
Resource Over-Utilization in Hospitalized Patients With Uncomplicated Skin and Soft Tissue Infections.
Journal of pharmacy practice. 35(5):675-679 [DOI] 10.1177/08971900211000216. [PMID] 33752488.
2021
Evaluation of Susceptibility Patterns in Uropathogens and Empiric Antibiotic Therapy in the Emergency Department.
Hospital pharmacy. 56(6):745-750 [DOI] 10.1177/0018578720957965. [PMID] 34732933.
2021
Impact of supplemental individual verbal defense on confidence, engagement, and performance in a team-based learning therapeutics course.
Currents in pharmacy teaching & learning. 13(2):152-158 [DOI] 10.1016/j.cptl.2020.09.010. [PMID] 33454072.
2021
Real-world, Multicenter Experience With Meropenem-Vaborbactam for Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections Including Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacterales and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Open forum infectious diseases. 8(8) [DOI] 10.1093/ofid/ofab371. [PMID] 34430671.
2020
An Update on Existing and Emerging Data for Meropenem-Vaborbactam.
Clinical therapeutics. 42(4):692-702 [DOI] 10.1016/j.clinthera.2020.01.023. [PMID] 32147146.
2020
Early therapeutic monitoring of β-lactams and associated therapy outcomes in critically ill patients.
The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy. 75(12):3644-3651 [DOI] 10.1093/jac/dkaa359. [PMID] 32910809.
2020
Letter to the editor (infection after penetrating brain injury).
The journal of trauma and acute care surgery. 88(3) [DOI] 10.1097/TA.0000000000002481. [PMID] 31425469.
2020
Population Pharmacokinetics and Target Attainment of Cefepime in Critically Ill Patients and Guidance for Initial Dosing.
Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy. 64(9) [DOI] 10.1128/AAC.00745-20. [PMID] 32601155.
2020
Real-world Multicenter Analysis of Clinical Outcomes and Safety of Meropenem-Vaborbactam in Patients Treated for Serious Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections.
Open forum infectious diseases. 7(3) [DOI] 10.1093/ofid/ofaa051. [PMID] 32161775.
2019
Clinical and Microbiologic Outcomes in Patients with Monomicrobial Stenotrophomonas maltophilia Infections.
Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy. 63(11) [DOI] 10.1128/AAC.00788-19. [PMID] 31427300.
2019
Use of an Anti-Infective Medication Review Process at Hospital Discharge to Identify Medication Errors and Optimize Therapy.
Journal of pharmacy practice. 32(5):488-492 [DOI] 10.1177/0897190018761411. [PMID] 29534629.
2018
Assessing antimicrobial stewardship initiatives: Clinical evaluation of cefepime or piperacillin/tazobactam in patients with bloodstream infections secondary to AmpC-producing organisms.
International journal of antimicrobial agents. 52(5):719-723 [DOI] 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2018.08.007. [PMID] 30125680.
2018
SCAN: A novel approach for vancomycin time-out.
Infection control and hospital epidemiology. 39(12):1501-1503 [DOI] 10.1017/ice.2018.249. [PMID] 30303049.
2018
Training a Drug to Do New Tricks: Insights on Stability of Meropenem Administered as a Continuous Infusion.
Microbiology insights. 11 [DOI] 10.1177/1178636118804549. [PMID] 30349291.
2017
Double carbapenem therapy (DCT) for bacteremia due to carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP): from test tube to clinical practice.
Infectious diseases (London, England). 49(11-12):867-870 [DOI] 10.1080/23744235.2017.1350880. [PMID] 28695756.
2017
Impact of an antimicrobial stewardship initiative on time to administration of empirical antibiotic therapy in hospitalized patients with bacteremia.
American journal of health-system pharmacy : AJHP : official journal of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. 74(7):511-519 [DOI] 10.2146/ajhp160096. [PMID] 28336761.
2017
Preparing Students to Enter the Race for Postgraduate Training.
Journal of pharmacy practice. 30(4):476-482 [DOI] 10.1177/0897190016645033. [PMID] 27194071.
2016
Administration of a survey to evaluate the attitudes of house staff physicians towards antimicrobial resistance and the antimicrobial stewardship programme at a community teaching hospital.
Journal of global antimicrobial resistance. 4:21-27 [DOI] 10.1016/j.jgar.2016.01.004. [PMID] 27436388.
2016
Management of skin and soft-tissue infections at a community teaching hospital using a severity-of-illness tool.
The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy. 71(11):3268-3275 [PMID] 27494908.
2014
Incidence of Antiretroviral Drug Interactions During Hospital Course: The Role of a Pharmacist-Led Antiretroviral Stewardship Program.
The Journal of pharmacy technology : jPT : official publication of the Association of Pharmacy Technicians. 30(2):48-53 [DOI] 10.1177/8755122513500919. [PMID] 34860871.
2009
Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole exposure alters ex vivo function of B lymphocytes isolated from human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients receiving Zidovudine.
Pharmacotherapy. 29(4):373-82 [DOI] 10.1592/phco.29.4.373. [PMID] 19323617.

Grants

Jul 2023 ACTIVE
Ceftazidime-Avibactam Contemporary Use and Evaluation of Time to Appropriate Therapy for Gram-Negative infections: A Multicenter Observational Study
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding: WAYNE STATE UNIV via ABBVIE
Oct 2022 ACTIVE
UF and FDOH Collaboration for "Nursing Home and Long Term Care Facility Strike Team and Infrastructure Project"
Role: Other
Funding: FL DEPT OF HLTH via CTRS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
Jul 2022 – Feb 2024
A multicenter, observational study to compare the effectiveness of Ceftazidime-Avibactam versus Ceftolozane-Tazobactam for multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in the United States (CACTUS)
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding: UNIV OF PITTSBURGH via Merck Sharp & Dohme
Sep 2021 – Feb 2023
Beta-lactam continuous vs intermittent infusion and associated bacterial resistance and therapy outcomes in critically ill patients with severe pneumonia
Role: Co-Investigator
Funding: US FOOD AND DRUG ADMN
May 2021 ACTIVE
Prevalence of Cefazolin Inoculum Effect in Mcthicillin Susceptible Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding: UF HEALTH SHANDS HOSPITAL
Mar 2021 – Mar 2022
Developing a Virtual Tour of the Microbiology Lab
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding: SOC OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES PHARMACISTS
Mar 2017 – Jun 2019
Effect of Subinhibitory Concentrations of Linezolid, Tedizolid, Clindamycin, and Vancomycin on Staphylokinase Production by Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus and its Potential Implication on Influenza A/Staphylococcus aureus
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding: UF HEALTH SHANDS HOSPITAL

Education

Pharm.D.
2006 · University of Kentucky

Contact Details

Phones:
Business:
(352) 265-0111
Emails:
Addresses:
Business Mailing:
PO Box 100484
GAINESVILLE FL 32610
Business Street:
1225 CENTER DR. HPNP 2314A
GAINESVILL FL 32601